Prometheus: Fire and Stone

Prometheus: Fire and Stone is a four-issue limited comic book series that was first published by Dark Horse Comics from September-December 2014. It was also published simultaneously in the digital format via Dark Horse Digital. The story was the first comic in the Prometheus comics line. It was written by Paul Tobin, illustrated and inked by Juan Ferreyra, colored by Juan Ferreyra and Eduardo Ferreyra, lettered by Nate Piekos and edited by Daniel Chabon and Ian Tucker, with cover art by David Palumbo and Juan Ferreyra. Paul Pope and Palumbo also provided variant covers for the first issue. It follows the crew of the Geryon, who have been dispatched to LV-223 in search of the USCSS Prometheus.

Prometheus: Fire and Stone formed the Prometheus component of Dark Horse's franchise-crossing Fire and Stone event in 2014/2015, and was released in conjunction with Aliens: Fire and Stone, Alien vs. Predator: Fire and Stone and Predator: Fire and Stone. The four series all share an interconnected story.

Prometheus: Fire and Stone was the first comic book to be based on the film Prometheus and its mythology. It was followed by Prometheus: Fire and Stone - Omega.

Publisher's Summary

#1: When the Prometheus never returned from her fateful journey to LV-223, the questions surrounding the origins of man went unanswered. Now a new team of explorers seeks to uncover the dark mystery that holds not only the fate of the original mission, but possibly their own damnation.

#2: After landing on LV-223, a recovery crew uncovers the fate of the Prometheus's doomed mission — and a horror unlike anything known to man!

#3: Chaos breaks loose when a member of the Prometheus's recovery team is exposed to the dangerous and mysterious genetic accelerant! Now, with the crew divided and hope for survival fleeting, a terrifying discovery offers a glimpse into the fate of the Prometheus... and the colony on LV-426!

#4: Casualties rise as the Prometheus's recovery team find themselves trapped between an unrelenting Alien horde, a ruthless Engineer, and a vengeful victim of the mysterious accelerant!

Plot

In the year 2090, one year after Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway discovered the ancient star map, a probe lands on the surface of LV-223 and begins scanning the area. The foot of an Engineer suddenly crushes the machine.

In the year 2219, 126 years after the disappearance of the USCSS Prometheus and 40 years after the Onager landed on LV-223, the engine core spacecraft, Geryon, was approaching the barren moon of LV-223 under the pretense of a routine salvage mission. Two days before arriving at the moon, passenger Clara Atkinson begins recording a documentary using a PUP-like device. She introduces fellow crewmembers captain Angela Foster, medic James Weddel and astrologist Francis Lane.

Angela secretly records a video on the day of their arrival, detailing that although the salvage mission was partly true, her real intentions in traveling to LV-223 was to find the truth behind Peter Weyland's disappearance and locate the Engineers.

The crew landing to the sight of a jungle.

The two of three smaller vessels Helios and the Perses detach from the Geryon and land on the moon's surface. Instead of encountering barren landscape like the crew of the Prometheus did 126 years ago, the crew arrive to be met with a lush jungle, bristling with strange alien life. They later come across a field of deceased mauled creatures and a lake of black goo, which Francis keeps a sample of. The prime discovery made by the crew however was an old vessel from the colony Hadley's Hope located on the neighboring moon LV-426 — containing a horde of hostile Xenomorphs which they unwittingly unleash. The Xenos kill and wound multiple crew members and Foster calls for the Kadmos for backup, but they eventually manage to escape.

Angela and the rest retreat into the Helios and she reveals her true intentions, much to the crews outrage.

Separated from the rest of the crew, Francis and his construct assistant Elden take shelter in a remote cave. When they uncover the research left behind by the cave's previous inhabitant — a survivor of the Onager crash. After reading the survivor's work, Francis deduces that the result of the jungle was due to a crashed alien ship that had released numerous urns of black goo in the process, mutating the environment. Francis determines that the genetic accelerant's mutation process could be filtered to be the long sought cure for his cancer. Francis requests for a reluctant Elden to be the filter, and injects him with a "drop" of the liquid. Elden mutates violently and begins chasing Francis.

T21 — Galgo finding the Engineer firearm.

Angela and her team mount a rescue mission for Francis and Elden and encounter the crashed derelict ship. Whilst exploring the interior of the ship, Chief of security Galgo Helder finds and keeps a large Engineer rifle-like firearm. The group soon leaves the derelict and continues on their mission to locate Francis and Elden.

The Helios is later attacked by Xenomorphs and Angela makes a change of plan to return to the vessel and fight the creatures. Coincidentally, Francis encounters the group and he admits to injecting Elden with the black goo. The crew seizes Francis and Angela has him under arrest.

T18 — Galgo's close encounter with the Engineer.

The crew is met with a Helios completely surrounded by Xenomorphs. Angela suggests that Galgo and fellow members Piper and Higgins return to the Perses to use the ship to drive off the aliens using it's weaponry, whilst putting Francis in lockdown.

On his way to the Perses, Galgo separates from Piper, Higgins and Francis and suddenly comes into a close-encounter with an Engineer. The Engineer is stacking a large number of dead Xenomorphs onto a pile. Galgo manages to hide from it and escape unnoticed.

T122 — Foster furiously questions Galgo, Higgins and Piper.

Meanwhile Angela and the others witness an unhinged Elden approach the surrounded Helios. The Xenomorphs surprisingly do not attack the mutated construct and allow him to open the hatch to the Perses. As the Xenomorphs flood into the ship, Galgo contacts Angela, telling her that he, Piper and Higgins took a vote to abandon the rest of the crew and take off from the moon, leaving her with a "good luck down there. And goodbye".

Whats left of the crew of the Helios manage to escape on ATVs and they regroup with Angela's crew on the juggernaut. Angela contacts crewmember Traynor back on the Kadmos in the Geryon for evac, but Galgo, Piper and Higgins board the ship and murder him, knowing that if Angela and the rest survived, the three would obviously be "court-martialed".

The rest retreat into the Juggernaut, with the Xenomorphs reluctant to follow.

Deeper within the interior of the derelict, the crew encounter a still operational laboratory to create life. Clara wishes to document the chamber and stays behind, the crew unintentionally leaving her. Weddel notices this and returns to the chamber to find her.

Back in the chamber, Weddel finds Clara before they are suddenly surrounded by Xenomorphs. Both express their love for each other, expecting death, before an Engineer emerges within the chamber holding a rifle. The Xenomorphs attack him but are quickly incinerated by the superior being. After the battle, Clara and Weddel express their gratitude towards the Engineer and thanks him for saving him. The Engineer replies by pointing his gun at them and incinerating them like the Xenomorphs. He then crushes Clara's recording device and follows after the retreating Xenos.

Meanwhile Elden and a group of Xenos are still inside the Helios. Elden pilots the ship and takes off to find and kill Francis.

Angela and the group are still inside the Juggernaut and become ambushed by Xenomorphs. The creatures slaughtered the remaining members and only Angela and fellow crewmembers Chris and Jill Hanlock survive. They retreat back to Derrick Russel's cave and set up camp.

Characters

Reprint History

PrometheusFaSTPB — Cover to *Prometheus: Fire and Stone* trade paperback by Palumbo.

Prometheus: Fire and Stone was collected as a trade paperback released in April 2015, reusing David Palumbo's cover for issue 1 as the cover artwork.

The series was collected again, along with the other Fire and Stone stories, in Prometheus: The Complete Fire and Stone, released in October 2015. As well as the comics, the trade paperback also included work-in-progress artwork and details of the crossover's original storyline, which was altered quite significantly during development.

This series will be collected again, along with the other Fire and Stone stories, in a trade paperback titled Aliens/Predator/Prometheus/AVP: Fire and Stone, to be released in April 2018.

Behind the Scenes

Cover artist David Palumbo also provided cover artwork for the Aliens: Fire and Stone series, as well as the one-shot conclusion story Prometheus: Fire and Stone - Omega. Not counting editing staff, he is the only person to work on the creative team on more than one of the series in the Fire and Stone event. He subsequently went on to provide artwork for the Life and Death crossover.

Chronology

Prometheus: Fire and Stone takes place after the events of Aliens: Fire and Stone #4 and before the events of the Predator: Fire and Stone #1 and Alien vs. Predator: Fire and Stone #1.